Eye of Magnus
by BlueWolf1923
Summary: Dragon Knights of Winterhold prequel. Ancano is dead, and the Eye is now in good hands, but evil is not done in its quest for power. A newly throned Arch-Mage and his allies stand against the approaching enemy, who is fueled by greed and bloodlust.


The Dragon Knights of Winterhold:

EYE OF MAGNUS

This is the prequel. It takes place immediately after the Dragonborn, a Khajit named K'ira, becomes Arch-Mage of Winterhold, and perhaps more importantly, the Eye of Magnus is carted away by Psijic Monks.

Oh, and if anyone has read Dragon Knights of Winterhold or my profile prior to this being published, you'll know that I had planned to upload this all at once, but I decided that was a bad idea, and I was eager to get this out there, so here we go.

X

J'zargo held the Staff of Magnus delicately and carefully, with both hands firmly clinging to it. J'zargo didn't know what might happen if he dropped it, but he was in no hurry to find out. "J'zargo is not allowed to keep this, correct?" he asked.

"not forever. You can borrow it, though." K'ira, the newly crowned Arch-Mage of Winterhold, didn't care much for staves. He much preferred flinging fireballs with his left hand and hacking dragons to bits with the Daedric sword Burntblood in his right.

"J'zargo was wrong."

"wrong about what?"

"J'zargo once said that life is a competition, and you could not see it because you were losing so badly. Yet here you are, the winner."

"the competition isn't over." K'ira finished dropping his collection of soul gems into a sack on the floor. "true, I'm in the lead, but I haven't won yet."

J'zargo shrugged, and aimed the Staff of Magnus at a bush of snowberries in what was once Savos Aren's garden. A green stream of lightning shot from the tip, incinerating the snowberries. "eh, sorry."

"I planned on replacing that bush with Jarrin Root anyway."

"Jarrin Root?"

"an immensely poisonous plant from Stros M'kai."

"poison?"

"it's a Dark Brotherhood story."J'zargo was unfazed by this. He already knew that K'ira was Listener for the Night Mother, and had suffered several unpleasant conversations with Cicero, an insane murderer disguised as a jester. J'zargo's disdain for Cicero was lessening, but still, he was glad that the lunatic had decided to split from their group about a month ago.

K'ira unloaded a collection of precious stones, and arranged them neatly in a display case. "maybe I'll relax here for a bit, try to unravel the mysteries of Aetherius after all."

"we both know you won't stay here because of Aetherius."

J'zargo was referring to Brelyna Maryon, a Dunmer mage whom K'ira was head over heels for, though he hid it well. K'ira shrugged off the remark, and changed the subject as he flopped himself onto the Arch-Mage's rather comfortable bed. "the Dragon Knights…" he sighed. "we should really do it. Find some more members, assemble a guild. The Blades are genocidal dragon-slayers with no remorse. The Companions are too normal, minus the werewolf thing. The Stormcloaks want to overthrow the Emperor. We could start something completely unique."

"being?"

"a guild of warriors, united not by coin, bloodlust, or revolutionary cause. Heroes dedicated solely to protecting the people, and upholding honour and goodness."

"alright. If you can find a few other members, I'll sign up."

"deal. Does Odahviing count?"

"yes, but Shadowmere doesn't."

"why not?"

"Shadowmere can't say he wants in." J'zargo paused. "back to the previous subject, then?"

"right. Brelyna."

"so you admit it!"

"to you, yes." K'ira sat up, and added, "but now that I think about it, that wasn't actually the point. The point was, 'will I stay?' and the answer being 'no.' However, I won't be going without my brother."

"so, where to next?"

"we follow up, try to find out who sent Ancano. Thalmor, most likely."

"you have no evidence of that."

"the robes," K'ira began, and continued, "the stereotypical superiority, the fact he was a powerful mage. It's nowhere near concrete enough for an accusation, but it's enough to conclude he had Thalmor ties. He was sent by Thalmor, so even if he acted on the order of an unrelated group, the Thalmor Embassy will tell us so, and possibly give us a lead."

X

J'zargo clubbed a bandit chief in the head with his drained staff, as the last remaining bandit came up behind him with a battle cry. J'zargo added his scream as the bandit's blade came down, but was stopped at the last moment by K'ira's Daedric sword. K'ira pushed the bandit back and kicked him in the chest, knocking him down. K'ira's heavily enchanted blade pieced his heart as he screamed away his final breath.

"I've had enough of this." K'ira sheathed his sword, and whistled to summon Shadowmere. The demonic black horse came at his call, and K'ira opened a long saddlebag, taking out two very dull Blades katanas while his tail twitched irritably. "here," he said, and tossed one to J'zargo, who caught it without hesitation. "get used to it, because your training starts now."

"J'zargo does not understand."

K'ira softened his tone, and reined in the furious beast blood that now wanted to break free and rampage across this small Nordic ruin, and the surrounding snow fields. "you're almost helpless once your magicka runs out. Sure, you've got Khajit claws and reflexes, same as me, and you can swing a staff pretty hard, but it's not enough. Now, hold that sword however feels most comfortable, and come at me. Adjust your grip until it feels right to swing, and tell me when you're ready."

J'zargo hesitantly acquiesced, and swung his sword. Without effort, K'ira swept the blow aside, but made no attempt at a counter. J'zargo swung again, this time harder, and then a third time with both hands and all his might, but to this final strike, K'ira simply jumped aside, and J'zargo stumbled forward. "don't ever expect your opponent to support your weight. If your enemy's got half a brain, he'll counter and impale you. And another thing…"

J'zargo unexpectedly lunged, nearly taking K'ira's head off, but K'ira blocked at the last second. "good, you're fast. Your arm isn't used to a sword, though," he said, and swung his blade directly against J'zargo's, resulting in a vibrating clang that hurt J'zargo's clawed hand. K'ira stepped forward and to the side of J'zargo, resting the edge of his sword against the side of J'zargo's throat. "drop your blade." J'zargo did as he was told. "now, find a way to get out of this, hopefully readying an attack as you do."

"J'zargo yields. J'zargo is not ready for this."

"death does not wait for you to be ready, and make no mistake, here you face death." J'zargo stood statue-still, but suddenly rolled to one side, directly away from K'ira's blade, retrieving his sword. He then lunged away into another roll, grabbing the staff he had set down. K'ira grinned broadly, even for a Khajit, and raised his sword over his head. J'zargo blocked with his own blade, and jabbed K'ira in the gut with the dragon-head carving on the end of his staff. "improvising. Keep it up." K'ira swung again, and J'zargo dodged, bringing up his sword for an uppercut blow at K'ira's jaw. The older Khajit simply leaned back out of the blow and transitioned the move into a kick that sent J'zargo flying into a snowbank. "impressive for your first time," he said, and helped J'zargo up. "I wasn't expecting you to beat me on your first try, so don't feel bad."

"J'zargo will avenge this loss," the younger Khajit said, and sheathed his sword, then laughed. "eh. Perhaps J'zargo is not the best at everything, but there is time for that to change, yes?"

"brother, let me tell you something, and I hope you remember it. Arrogance is a bad trait to have, no matter what path you take in life. Do not confuse confidence with arrogance." K'ira patted J'zargo on the back. "that said, I saw you finally mastered the Expert level Destruction spells."

"only the Ice Spear, sadly," J'zargo replied, and cast one to accentuate his point. "and you?"

K'ira shrugged. He had learned all three elemental Expert spells a month ago, but had been instead using explosive fireballs with his sword to avoid hurting J'zargo's sensitive ego. He hadn't mastered them, but he could use them. "arrogance, you say, and you are not the only one to warn J'zargo. Perhaps this is one trait J'zargo could do without."

"maybe, but don't assume total innocence and humility, either. You're a very skilled mage, and I'd trust you with my life, ego or not."

X

Over the next four days, their sparring continued, but J'zargo continually lost. On the fourth day, in the shadow of Solitude and the light of a rising sun, they sparred one final time before entering the city. "the rules are the same as always. Anything goes except magic."

J'zargo swung his sword with one hand, and K'ira parried. With his free hand, he aimed a punch at K'ira's jaw, but K'ira caught the clawed fist and bent J'zargo's arm around, behind his back. J'zargo found himself flying through the air, landing on his back on the snow, K'ira had flipped him. Worse, the arm he had punched with had been sandwiched between the ground and his back, injuring it. He could use a healing spell after the match, but for now, that arm was useless in battle. K'ira swung his sword, but J'zargo ducked and swung his own at K'ira's shin. With the natural speed and reflexes of a Khajit, honed by countless battles, K'ira jumped over the blade and brought his sword down while he hung in midair. It struck J'zargo in the small of the back. He held his blade there, then removed it and let J'zargo stand. "you didn't beat me, but I'm the best there is. You can handle just about anyone now, because even if your sword can't get past theirs, you can just stall for time until your magicka regenerates."

"good timing, then. The Thalmor are fierce swordsmen and powerful mages."

"there's no guarantee we'll be fighting them."

"well, what other plan do you have?"

"Elenwen. We're going to interrogate her, she's the top dog for the Thalmor in Skyrim."

X

Elenwen shook the unpleasant memories from her mind as she made her way to her bedchamber. The Thalmor Embassy, the party, that drunken idiot who insulted her in front of everyone… and then K'ira. At the time, the damned cat had been alone, but she had seen in his eyes that he was a threat. She had confirmed this later, that he had stolen Thalmor records and that he had given them directly to the last remains of the Blades. Then, he had revealed himself as Dragonborn, and defeated Alduin forever. There was some ridiculous rumour that he had been to the Nordic afterlife, Savungur or something… oh, yes, Sovngarde…

"don't move, don't turn around." the voice was unmistakably Khajit, and she felt a blade pressing into the back of her neck. "you don't really care much about Nord superstition, so I'll tell you up front that the matter at hand is no myth." K'ira. How dare he? How did he, anyway? This was a Thalmor stronghold! He must be incredibly stealthy. "in Winterhold, there have been a series of supernatural occurrences surrounding the Mage's College. One of your operatives, a High Elf named Ancano, went berserk and tried to use a magical artifact of unspeakable power to wipe us all out."

"Ancano… I know him. He wasn't very high up in the chain of command, but I met him once or twice."

"if he's so unimportant, why do you remember his name? No, don't answer that. The mention of the artifact doesn't faze you, so you already knew. And, you referred to him in past tense, so you know he's dead."

"I also know that's a soup spoon, not a dagger. Get off me."

"fine. Now, you're going to tell me everything you know about Ancano, and why you sent him."

"I sent Ancano to make sure your mages weren't plotting against us," Elenwen replied as she turned. K'ira was clad entirely in black cloth, not armour. "he mentioned the Eye of Magnus to me, so I knew, but as for his death, that was a guess… look, I know we don't get along, but I need your help. The Synod Council… they're in Skyrim, and so is the Eye. Thalmor eyes see far and away, Dragonborn… and mine see treachery."

"the Synod know about the Eye, and you think they'll try to steal it."

"I think they're stealing it right now, and I also think Ancano was their original method of acquiring it."

"when I talked to him, as he was nearly tearing the College down, he never once mentioned allegiance to the Synod."

"fair enough. It's all just a theory, but I'll tell you what isn't… the Eye of Magnus has the power to unmake Tamriel itself."

"where are the Psijics now?"

"Falkreath. The Synod are just south of them, in the mountains between Skyrim and Cyrodiil."

"we'll be in touch." K'ira walked away, dissolving into the darkness in his black, hooded robe.

A/N: anybody catch the movie reference by K'ira? it's from Batman Begins (God I love the Nolan Trilogy)

PS why is no one revewing The Second Great War? I guess i'm happy enough that people are reading it, but I just don't understand. it's been up for months, and no one's reviewed... maybe you guys thought I'd given up on it? I guess I shoud set that straight: I'm seeing this series through to the end, and I hope you will too. :)


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